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Acast and the Guardian have announced they will continue their successful commercial relationship as the publisher re-signs a deal with Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company. Acast and The Guardian have worked together since 2017, with the latter producing some of the world’s most popular news and lifestyle podcasts, including Today in Focus, Football Weekly, Comfort Eating with Grace Dent, and Politics Weekly UK.

More recently, The Guardian launched the Black Box series - a six-part audio documentary series that takes a captivating look at humanity’s collision with AI.

The agreement between Acast and the Guardian covers all of Acast's markets, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada, offering breadth of knowledge, comprehension of the nuances of each market, and podcasting growth expertise. Acast stands out as the only podcast company with a dedicated team focused on Publishers, offering a wealth of knowledge and a deep...

For decades, the conversation has echoed in pubs, bars, WhatsApp group chats, living rooms, and office canteens. What would you do if you won the ultimate lottery jackpot? The ultimate prompt to indulge in the ultimate daydream.

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, has partnered with EuroMillions from The National Lottery to find out what celebrities would spend their hypothetical winnings on, creating a captivating new podcast series titled Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams. Launching today, Friday, September 27th, the series features a lineup of celebrities exploring the fantastical possibilities of winning a £200 million jackpot in an original idea from Acast.

Hosted by Sarel, known for her engaging style in the Closet Confessions podcast, the series brings together high-profile guests, including Pete Wicks and Sam Thompson, Grace Dent, Richard Herring, and Andi and Miquita Oliver.

Every Friday, a new guest will be invited to sit down and plan...

In the semi-finals of Celebrity MasterChef, the six remaining cooks face a challenging task as they strive to secure a coveted spot in finals week. With a place in the finals on the line, the pressure is on to impress the judges and showcase their culinary prowess. Food critic Grace Dent joins John and Gregg […]

Celebrity MasterChef: Season 19, Episode 15...

ITV’s annual reality TV juggernaut I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Is having a chequered 23rd season.

Before celebrity campmates even arrived in Australia to experience jungle life, there was criticism over ITV’s decision to pay controversial politician Nigel Farage a reported £1.5million ($1.9m) to participate.

Once everyone was in camp, it was clear Farage intended to use the primetime platform to push his personal agenda. “Never say never,” was his response to questions about his future political plans.

Meanwhile, two miserable contestants left the camp this week “on medical grounds” – Jamie Lynn Spears, sister of Britney, departed having spent much of her time on the show in tears and missing her children, and she was preceded by British food writer Grace Dent.

Now The Sun newspaper reports that ITV has had to issue an apology after the official social media account for the show...

Jamie Lynn Spears is headed to the jungle.

The actor and little sister of Britney has been announced as a castmember on the latest season of U.K. reality survival show “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” alongside British right-wing politician Nigel Farage and morning show host Josie Gibson.

Farage is best known as the face of Brexit in the U.K. while Gibson is a regular host on troubled ITV daytime show “This Morning.”

“I’m a Celebrity,” which begins on Nov. 19 on U.K. network ITV and is set to last approximately three weeks, sees contestants dropped off in a remote part of the Australian jungle where viewers will vote for them to take on a range of repulsive challenges ranging from eating kangaroo testicles to being immersed in a pit full of creepy crawlies.

Joining Spears, Farage and Gibson on the show are “Made in Chelsea” star Sam Thompson,...

Attention food enthusiasts! Season 16, Episode 9 of “MasterChef: The Professionals” is coming your way. Tune in on Thursday, November 9, 2023, at 9:00 Pm on BBC One.

The episode kicks off with the notorious Invention Test, where the quarter-finalists are tasked with creating a standout tart, whether sweet or savory. They must craft a pastry masterpiece that not only impresses but also complements their dish with a perfect side accompaniment. The chefs are granted creative freedom as they scour the MasterChef larder for the ideal ingredients to elevate their pastry creations.

Following this intense challenge, the chefs face one of the most dreaded rounds in MasterChef history – preparing their own two-course menu for three of the UK’s most seasoned food critics: Tom Parker Bowles, Jimi Famurewa, and Grace Dent. With just one hour and 15 minutes on the clock, they must deliver four identical portions of each dish, meeting the highest culinary standards on every front.

Jack Hazan and David Mingay's Rude Boy is now showing exclusively on Mubi in most countries—including the United Kingdom, Brazil, India, Turkey, and Ireland—in the series Rediscovered.London, 1978: Ray Gange, a purposeless punk, shuffles from the unemployment benefit office to his beer-money job at a porno bookstore, selling dirty magazines to shifty-looking customers. Meanwhile, young fascists storm the streets, hurling abuse and waving banners in their fight against “communism in the classroom” and “race-mix propaganda.” Margaret Thatcher is on the cusp of seizing power and the National Front is at the height of its popularity. Racist graffiti, large-scale unemployment, run-down social housing, and right-wing riots: in five minutes flat, Rude Boy (1980) tells you everything you need to know about Britain at the dark end of the 1970s.As much a gritty social-realist document of a country in transition as a charged concert film of the pioneering punk band the Clash,...

Very British Problems, the 1 million follower-plus @soverybritish Twitter feed turned best-selling book of Britons' daily woes, hits our small screens tonight (August 13).

Starring Jonathan Ross, James Corden and a variety of famous funny Brits moaning creatively in a Grumpy Old Men stylee, the Channel 4 series looks to bottle the retweet phenomenon for a non-social audience.

I meet its London-based creator Rob Temple to find out how that's going to work and, to be honest, exactly how it all got this far. Over a beer, not an under-heated cup of tea ("I don't even like tea," laughs Temple), I ask how the idea started. "Well, it started it in 2012, cause you told me to."

Now, this is sort of true. Full disclosure: I used to work with Rob. And I did implore him to start a Twitter feed, as despite having never seen it himself, his dry, pithy humour was clearly a good fit.

BBC One's Frank Sinatra: Our Way saw seven relatively unknown acts from across the UK performing covers of Sinatra classics.

After singing in front of a panel of judges (consisting of Rufus Hound, Mica Paris, Leo Green and Dave Stewart), the winner was then decided and won the chance to perform at a special Frank Sinatra centenary concert in 2015.

But what did you think of BBC One's tribute to Sinatra? Digital Spy rounds up reactions on Twitter below:

It may only be the 3rd of January but I think we have already found our 'Worst Show of 2015' #FrankSinatraOurWay

— Elliot Gonzalez (@elliot_gonzalez) January 3, 2015

"A show where strangers sing awful versions of Frank Sinatra songs?" #FrankSinatraOurWay pic.twitter.com/ls0rjNA4wf

— Chris (@Flatus74) January 3, 2015

And now the end is near. I'm switching over #FrankSinatraOurWay

— kaye adams (@kayeadams) January 3, 2015

This #FrankSinatraOurWay show is giving me chest pains.

Clarissa Dickson Wright has died at the age of 66, 15 years after the passing of her Two Fat Ladies co-star Jennifer Paterson.

The food and celebrity world has responded to the sad news, and Digital Spy rounds up just some of the tributes below.

Very saddened to hear about Clarissa Dickson Wright. She was always entertaining to watch and was of course a passionate foodie x

— Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) March 17, 2014

Clarissa Dickson Wright Rip a true foodie, brilliant personality & will be sadly missed. 2 fat ladies and Floyd changed food TV for ever.

— James Martin (@jamesmartinchef) March 17, 2014

Just read the sad news that Clarissa Dickson Wright has passed away. It was always a joy to be in her company. I hope she sleeps well x

— kate thornton (@k8_thornton) March 17, 2014

Goodbye Clarissa. A truly fabulous woman. Worked with her many times and it was always fun, at least for me. She had a towering intellect.

Revisiting 18 years of pop culture, from the Strokes to the early hipster, plus lots of Charlie Brooker

2000: Nasty Nick

Charlie Brooker's first Screen Burn "Hate your job? Weep yourself awake each Monday morning? Spend the working day toying with your desktop icons while nonchalantly contemplating suicide? Ever considered doing something – anything – else? Then whatever you do, don't look to the coming week's television for inspiration. Tucked away in the schedules are four glaring examples of the very worst careers imaginable this side of "oil-rig bitch". First up servile pandering, or "being a butler", as it's commonly known..."

Macy Mania Macy Gray has a (fleeting) moment. "The latest craze is precisely what Macy Gray has become. The first bona-fide pop phenomenon of the new millennium. Right now, the world and its uncle appear infatuated with her. She's bigger than big. And getting bigger all the time."

2020 vision Danny Leigh...

London — Now that's more like it.

Mick Jagger has dropped by Olympic Stadium to watch some track and field, providing relief to celebrity-watchers who worried that the world's biggest sporting event has been a little lacking in star power – off the field, that is.

The Rolling Stones singer, who was photographed Monday chatting with London organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe at the stadium, is not the only A-lister to take in the games. But most are keeping a low profile.

It's as if they know that for this brief period, they're not the stars. The athletes are.

"My advice would be, go on holiday for two or three weeks," PR guru Max Clifford advised celebrities.

"I think the danger is that they could be seen to be cashing in, and the public would find that offensive," he said. "And it would remind people how empty most of them are."

The...

Finding yourself sleeping in a washing machine is more likely than waltzing into a job at Condé Nast. Anyone for Basics gin?

With graduate unemployment at 25%, you'd think there'd be a deluge of telly and Hollywood types thinking up new, money-spinning ways to speak to the "fuck it" generation (that's us). After all, 3 million young adults still live with their parents, some of whom have enough cash for a TV licence and maybe even a flatscreen – small comforts when you're lying on their chintz sofa, crying.

Yet most recent films and television programmes don't remotely reflect this sorry state of affairs. Back when the relentlessly unrealistic Sex and the City graced our screens, there was the hope that you might graduate on to a glitzy career that involved sipping flirtinis with transsexual people on the rooftop of your loft in £500 podiatric torture devices. I'm sorry to bum you out while...

Homeland star Damian Lewis and Tony Blair's former director of communications Alastair Campbell will be among the guest hosts in the new series of Have I Got News For You. Have I Got News For You returns for its 43rd run on Friday, April 13 at 9pm. Paul Merton and Ian Hislop return again as the regular team captains. Episodes and Dirk Gently comic Stephen Mangan will guest host the first of nine new episodes of the news quiz, which will feature guests Miles Jupp and journalist Grace Dent. Campbell (more)...

Last night, a group of celebrity ladies in London showed how a fun night out in great company can make a massive difference. Lauren Laverne, Miquita Oliver, Caroline Flack, Caitlin Moran, Dawn Porter, Gemma Cairney, Grace Dent, Cherry Healey, Brix Smith-Start, Jo Good and Whistles’ Jane Sheperdson gathered to launch Get-together; Oxfam’s new fundraising campaign to support women around the world.

There are 1.3 billion people living in poverty worldwide – more than two-thirds of them are women and girls. Lauren and pals led by example aiming to inspire UK ladies to get together and hold their own fundraising events for International Women’s Day on 08 March. Oxfam is inviting women to arrange anything from a dinner party or cocktails to an afternoon of knitting or doing a favourite work-out routine, all to raise money to support women living in poverty around the globe.

Read more...

Lily Allen wants to buy a vintage pram for her baby daughter. The Smile singer - who gave birth to Ethel Mary, her first child with husband Sam Cooper, in July - expressed an interest in a custom-made Flutterbys pram, which features an embroidered canopy and a deep-set bed. Posting a link to the pram on her twitter page, she asked her followers: 'are these a bit much ?(sic)' When her friend, columnist Grace Dent responded 'yes', Lily wrote back: 'too late, i'm sold.(sic)' In the description of the made-to-order pram - which is priced from £200 - it claims to be...

Noel Edmonds, eggnog, walnuts: Christmas wouldn't be the same without them. It'd be much better. Thankfully there's one tradition you can rely on, the Guide's annual act of enumeration. From mixtapes to monkeys, we've clocked the year's key trends and put numbers next to them.

Click on the links below and read on …

2011: Celeb lists, unavoidable stars and sick

2011 in cinema: Broken Britain v animals

Grace Dent's TV Od 2011 roundup

2011: the year of boring music

The best mixtapes of 2011, plus club names of the year

Get the 2011 look

Drama lessons: what we learned from 2011 TV

The Guide's guide to the next 12 months

John Patterson's 2011 film roundup

Peter Robinson's 2011 music roundup

Infomania: 2011

Television

guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...

With a hit TV show, an Oscar-winning film, the best restaurant in the world and covetable design, now is the time to discover all things Danish

The hit TV show

Put simply, the hunt for the killer of Nanna Birk Larsen rejigs everything you expect about snoozesome murdery-mystery TV. Over 20 dimly-lit, subtitled hours, The Killing's plot simmers, startles and slowly unravels, as cops Sarah Lund and Jan Meyer pace Copenhagen's streets. They interview, re-interview, then thrice harangue witnesses, each time gleaning fresh "truths". We observe Nanna's mourners make mental headway with shock, anger, bargaining, depression. Lund's obsession with catching this grim, meticulous murderer, giving closure to Nanna's parents, becomes our obsession, too.

I love Lund; she's the sort of better woman I dream to be, shunting her love life, parenting-guilt and planned move to Sweden into the "Emotional crap to deal with" pile as she bids to change Denmark for the greater good.

Critics reflect on how social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and myDigg, fit into the perennial debate on cultural elitism

Miranda Sawyer, broadcaster and Observer radio critic: 'Twitter has made it easier for critics to hear other people's opinions. Even then, though, you tend to hear similar views to your own'

When I was writing for the Face, during the 1990s, I went to interview some boy racers: young lads who spent all their money souping up their cars in order to screech around mini roundabouts or rev their engines in supermarket car parks until their tyres smoked. The kids asked me who I was writing for. When I said the Face – a magazine that prided itself on representing all aspects of British youth interests – every single one of them replied: "Never heard of it."

The point is that most people – especially those outside the high-culture capital of London – are...

BBC Two will air a special edition of Charlie Brooker's show Screenwipe this year. Charlie Brooker's 2010 Wipe will examine the year in news, television, games and films. Brooker will be joined by guests including Grace Dent, who will examine the year's soaps. Investigative journalist Nick Davies will discuss the alleged News of the World phone hacking, while comedian Doug Stanhope will talk about the Bp oil disaster. Other topics expected to be explored include the Chilean miners, the elections and the Pope's visit. Brooker's regular guest Tim Key will also (more)...

Two cheers for Prince Charles, in defence of greed and Gordon Gekko – and a caning for Boy George

✒ As we may have mentioned just a few times, the readers' room loves a fight, so it is with regret that we announce the death of the Boxed set controversy. After months of Graham Rounce and Co insisting that the weekly column Your next box set be renamed Your next Boxed set, and others countering that no, get lost, for once G2 has got something right, the fire has gone out of the debate. In fact, it's not even smouldering. Last Friday's column produced not one comment on the subject, unless you count nbt4000's "Where's Graham Rounce?"

Where indeed? If you're reading this, Mr Rounce, let us know you're Ok.

Fortunately, peace hasn't broken out all over. Also on Friday, Alexander Chancellor was squaring up to Prince Charles, who apparently wants...